The European Union funded twinning project is scheduled to kick off in an event that will mark the official launch of the project. The EU-Twinning project aims to strengthen the Rwanda Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) in its regulatory functions related to medicinal products including vaccines therefore to promote drugs and food safety in Rwanda. The project is funded by the European Union Delegation and is implemented by Expertise France, a French technical cooperation Agency with the help of different health agencies of the European partner countries of the twinning.
The official launch of the project will take place on 16th May 2023 at the Headquarters of Rwanda FDA located at 32 KG 9 Ave in Nyarutarama, and will bring together key stakeholders in the health sector, including government officials, health industry representatives, civil society organizations, and development partners.
The EU-Twinning project will support the Rwanda FDA in strengthening its regulatory framework, improving its laboratory services, enhancing its capacity for risk assessment, and promoting the use of international standards and best practices. The twinning project involves several vaccines and medicines regulatory agencies from EU Member States such as the French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM), Paul-Ehrlich-Institut – German Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biomedicines, Sciensano of Belgium and the State Medicines Control Agency of Lithuania.
It aims to support the Rwanda Food and Drugs Authority to improve the enabling environment for regulation of medicinal products and vaccines in the country. To achieve this overall objective, the project has three components:
- Improving legal framework and regulatory functions linked to medicinal products;
- Strengthening of market surveillance and control function – vigilance & laboratory testing
functions; - Support the establishment of the official batch release function for vaccines.
The project is to be implemented over a period of two years, with a total budget of 2 million Euros. It is expected that about 200 experts will be able to support the Rwanda FDA through field visits during which they will share their expertise with designated Rwanda FDA Staff. The project team consists of experts from health agencies from the European member states which are part of the twinning who will work together with Rwanda FDA Staff to achieve the project objectives.
The Twinning project is set to provide the Rwanda FDA with access to support from EU National Regulatory Agencies, including expert missions, seminars, workshops, training courses and study visits, to achieve jointly established objectives. The project includes the secondment to Rwanda FDA of a full-time EU Resident Twinning Advisor for 2 years, to direct the programme, mobilise activities, and work directly with the management of the Rwanda FDA.
On the occasion to launch the twinning cooperation in June last year, officials from the Delegation of the European Union and from the Government of Rwanda commended the initiative that will enable Rwanda FDA to strengthen its regulatory framework and improve food safety in Rwanda, which is essential for protecting public health and promoting economic growth.
The kick-off event will feature speeches by high-level officials from the Ministry of health, Rwanda FDA, the Delegation of the European Union, and the lead Experts of the project.